SKETCHBOOKERY Week 1 and 2 and yes I know my header is getting longer ..

It turns out that La Musa is not content with me trying to keep up with the DLProject but poked her sharpened pencil into my side until I broke down and registered for Ms Mary Ann Moss'  SKETCHBOOKERY course as well.
I had been looking forward to seeing what she would come up with this time round and she has not disappointed.
The first week was getting to know your paints, doing a colour wheel and wielding various brushes and pens.
This is the second week and I will actually share what I accomplished.
First was making our sketchbook using  this very attractive 'flying book' stitch.

It's actually called the 'chevron' but to me they look like the 'flying books' which were featured in this delightful animated short called  "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore."

Then we were encouraged to actually (gasp) sketch in it!
The first sketch  I did was of a white lavender stem in a mini bar Glenlivet bottle using a Frixion black fine line pen and coloured it in using Derwent Inktense pencils. 

Then we were told to go 'draw a beautiful alphabet'. I am not sure I succeeded in the 'beautiful' but I was determined to do justice to the first letter in my name at any rate: the "J".  

I used 'Letter by Letter  by Laurent Pflughaupt  as my reference. 

 

A stand of wild pinks always lean to the right toward the sun by my fountain. A huge douglas fir overshadows them so it is quite the exercise for them to see who can reach the sun first.

I had cobbled together various weights of papers that I had lying around, ranging from 90-300 lb, a mix of  hot and cold pressed, plus I stitched in a few pages of Amazon's brown wrapping paper for good measure. (you have to love FREE art supplies when you order stuff!)
I am going to try out my gouache paints for the first time in this book as well as my beloved Derwent Inktense pencils and my water brushes. These have stood me in good stead throughout my recent travels and are now my constant companions in my 'art bag'.
Thankfully I have also found Frixion pens to be a right royal godsend in this department as they are erasable and the scratchy lines give so much character to what you are sketching - almost instant shadow effect.  They make me a better sketcher than I actually am! They are water soluable so they also 'gray' the colour as well as disappear into the mix a wee bit.
Blessings of the Muse to all who read this.
Happy sketching!